Indoor Pulled Pork And Apple Chutney Wraps

February 1, 2017

Pulled pork has been a favorite of mine for quite some time, but I started to become obsessed with making a perfect pulled pork at home, in a regular oven inside an apartment, after visiting Franklin Barbecue and reading the Aaron Franklin’s A Meat Smoking Manifesto. I believe I cracked it a while ago, but I also wanted to develop a way to make pulled pork more relevant for the Nordics. I do love a classic pulled pork sandwich with a hot chili based barbecue sauce and coleslaw, or pulled pork served with a sweet potato puree, but creating a dish that would be more culturally relevant would bring it to the next level for me in my everyday life.

Pork is often served with apples, even applesauce, in these parts of the world and they make a nice pairing. So I started experimenting with an apple and onion chutney and found that it works very well, even more when adding a splash of Calvados (like the Boulard Grand Solage) which provides brightness and freshness to the chutney that balances with the body from the onion and sweet and sour base.

Next up was how to serve it, and it really isn’t much choice here. One of the most classic types of street food in Sweden is something called tunnbrödsrulle, basically a hot dog and mashed potato in a wheat tortilla. The pulled pork and apple chutney makes for a perfect wrap, whether you want it on a summer day or after a day in the ski slopes.

To make great pulled pork indoors you just need to fake the smokiness and then make sure to get a nice crust, while getting the inside as tender as it should be. There are a couple of tricks that would border to cheating if a smoker was used, but when we do it inside we only care about the end result and not the purity of how we arrived there. Liquid smoke and sugar in the slather (the liquid mixture used to make the salt and pepper stick to the meat) is the key to getting the smokey flavour and a nice crust, while the wrap protects the crust and steams the meat to fall apart tenderness.

I really like a black pepper driven (Texas style) rub with a little vinegar and rum in the slather to contrast and stand up to the pepper. Pulled pork is traditionally made with pork butt but I’ve also had great success with pork belly steak. Add a little curing salt (sodium nitrate) to the rub to create a smoke ring for that extra step of fake awesomeness.

Indoor Pulled Pork And Apple Chutney Wraps

8 wraps (6 hours to prepare and cook)

1.2-1.8 kg pork butt or pork belly

10 ml apple cider vinegar

5 ml chinese mushroom soy

5 ml liquid smoke

5 ml 12-15 year aged Rum

5 ml simple syrup

1 dl coarse ground black pepper

0.75 dl kosher or flake salt

5 ml ancho powder

Indoor Pulled pork

Mix together the slather (liquid ingredients) and rub (dry ingredients).

Trim off any skin or big fat cap on the outside, apply the slather using a brush and then dust on the rub – patting it gently on the surface.

Put on a baking rack over a pan at 135 degrees Celsius for 6 hours in a convection oven (using the fan), or a smoker if available with what used to be the fat cap side up. Flip after 2 hours.

After 3 hours (one hour after flipping) spray or dab on the rest of the slather and wrap in aluminum foil.

After 6 hours, remove from oven and let rest for 10-20 minutes before breaking apart using forks or tongs.

2.5 dl Granny Smith Apples (ca. 6)

2.5 dl chopped yellow onion

2.5 dl raw/muscovado sugar

2 dl apple cider vinegar

2 dl water

15 ml grated fresh ginger

15 ml Calvados

Apple Chutney

Peel and cube the apples and roughly chop the onion.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 50 minutes under a lid, stirring once in awhile.

Reduce further if it’s too watery after 50 minutes, season with salt and black pepper.

Pulled pork

Apple chutney

Wheat tortillas

To finish

Make a horizontal elongated pile of pulled pork topped with apple chutney in the middle of the tortilla, saving enough room on the sides to fold the ends back over the meat.

Fold the bottom half over the ends and then roll everything over forward to close the whole thing. Use the same basic technique to wrap it in paper or foil, if you want to.